Over-70s automatically qualify for Household Benefits Package of €580 a year without a means test
Tens of thousands of older people are missing out on a state financial support that would help them pay high energy bills.
More than 100,000 households with people over the age of 70 who are entitled to the Household Benefits Package may be failing to get it.
The scheme sees those who qualify receiving €580 a year from the Government to help with the cost of energy bills and to pay for a TV licence.
People over the age of 70 qualify without needing a means test. One payment is made per household. In some cases, under-70s can qualify if they meet certain conditions.
A Department of Social Protection analysis has revealed that as many as 116,000 households with at least one person over 70 are not receiving the payment.
The findings come at a time when cost-of-living pressures are uppermost in most households. Ireland has the most expensive electricity in Europe, with fears of further rises in the price of electricity, gas and home-heating oil due to the continuing conflict in the Gulf.
The Department of Social Protection said it plans to undertake a new awareness campaign to get more people to claim the benefit.
Around 560,000 households are receiving the benefit, including around 389,000 households with at least one person aged 70 or over.
But the department admitted its analysis “indicates that potentially 116,000 households with at least one person aged 70 or over may be eligible to receive HBP [the Household Benefits Package]”.
However, it said its own figures may be an overestimate.
“In many instances, it is likely that another individual in the household, other than the person aged 70 or over, qualifies for and is already receiving the HBP,” a spokesperson said.
It stressed the analysis it conducted was an experimental exercise and it does not normally produce statistics on unclaimed benefits.
The information emerged after Cavan-based Zak Carolan made a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Social Protection.
Mr Carolan has built a free online guide to consumer entitlements called The People’s Pocket, at peoplespocket.com. It outlines what government grants, credits and payments people may be entitled to in Ireland and the UK.
He said billions of euro in benefits and refunds go unclaimed every year and the official information sites are a maze.
The department said it last ran advertising campaigns in 2022 and 2024 to raise awareness about the benefits package.
The package is worth €35 a month that can be put towards either an electricity or natural gas bill. Also included is a free TV licence which normally costs €160 a year to renew.
Mr Carolan said 116,000 households is a huge number.
“And it’s not because they failed a means test. With over-70s there is no means test. They qualify. They were just never told it existed”, he said.
“Nobody from the department is going to ring your mother and offer it to her. That’s the whole problem in one sentence.”
Applications can be made online using MyWelfare.ie for those with a MyGovID account or by completing a Household Benefits Package application form and submitting it by post.